The Hindu : New Delhi News : Police get list of missing paintings

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 23, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Police get list of missing paintings

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MAY 22 . Sahitya Kala Parishad has handed over the list of the missing paintings from its gallery at the College of Arts on May 17 to the Crime Branch of Delhi police. It is now learnt that none of the 30 missing paintings belonged to any prominent artist.

According to the police, the list of missing paintings was handed over on Friday afternoon, two days after the Parishad staff began scrutinising the huge collection of over 1,000 paintings. These paintings belong mostly to students and some upcoming artists. Their value has been put at Rs. 32,000. The police said the paintings were priced anywhere between Rs. 50 to Rs. 5,000. The costliest painting belonged to Shobha Broota.

The police have traced Sukhpal, the incharge of the gallery, who had been sent out of station on election duty. Efforts are being made to trace the peon Harish Ram, who had gone on leave a couple of days before the incident came to light. Inder Pal, who detected the theft, has already been questioned.

Earlier, the police believed that the theft could have been the handiwork of people having links with inter-State gangs dealing in illegal sale and purchase of antiques and other art works. Later, however, the police said an insider might be involved in the incident. They maintained that the person involved in the incident must have been well aware of the market for cheap paintings.

Also, the manner in which the thieves took away the paintings suggested that they were well aware with getaway routes in the College as they seemed to have entered through some other passage and not the main gate.

The culprits took their own time to remove the 30 paintings from their frames, roll them into bundles and leave.

The police, therefore, suspect that if not directly responsible, insiders might have helped the culprits in stealing the paintings.

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